Fantasy Football: Bye weeks good time to comb waiver wire

Even if a scruffy country star who established a career because he was named after his genius songwriter father can no longer ask me about it, I am still ready for some football.

Some teams are not, though, as this week begins the bane of a fantasy owner’s existence — bye weeks. This week, you will get no points from anyone on Baltimore, Dallas, Miami, St. Louis, Washington or Cleveland.

Note: I found this list, in that order, on cbssports.com; alphabetical order except for the Browns being an afterthought. As if the poor team needed a reminder of its lowly status.

With the start of these weekly vacationing squads comes the time when one must scramble for a waiver wire pickup to fill a roster spot. To celebrate this tradition, I will look at each of the three major skill positions and try to give a good recommendation for someone who could perform well today.

But, then again, they still are not yet owned for a reason, so this is necessarily an exercise in optimism.

A battle of disappointing ex-Eagles quarterbacks will take place today in Minneapolis as Donovan McNabb tries to keep the Vikings from an 0-5 start against Kevin Kolb and the Cardinals.

Kolb has Larry Fitzgerald to throw to, so fantasy owners are holding onto him in most leagues, even though he has thrown four interceptions and fumbled four times. McNabb has held onto the ball better, but only has 680 passing yards.

Both should improve on their numbers today since Arizona is ranked 26th against the pass, giving up 282.8 yards per game, while Minnesota is a bit better at No. 28 and 286.2.

Kolb has better weapons, so if you grab him, he would be the preferred pick. McNabb, though, is owned in only about a third of ESPN leagues, and should still provide points.

It is more difficult to find a running back with promise who is available, but here the injury gods have allowed a possibility for this week.

The Steelers’ Rashard Mendenhall saw the practice field Friday, but only as a limited participant as he tries to come back from a hamstring injury. He is listed as questionable for today’s game against the Titans, and seeing as he is only averaging 3.0 yards per carry this year, Pittsburgh probably won’t risk further injury just to get that level of performance.

In will step Isaac Redman, who is owned in only about a quarter of leagues. In limited duty, he is averaging 4.9 yards per carry this season, so as long as he gets increased opportunities today, he should churn out some yards. Just don’t expect a real lot of them, as Tennessee is giving up only 87.8 yards per game on the ground.

That brings us to wide receiver and Tampa Bay’s Preston Parker. The second-year player’s 223 receiving yards lead the team, yet he is owned in less than 5 percent of leagues.

The Bucs’ passing game hasn’t been a powerful force, but young QB Josh Freeman did have his best outing of the season last week, though it came against the Colts, so it might not really count. This week, though, pits Tampa against the 49ers, who are giving up 284 passing yards per game, so there is hope for Parker and his cohorts to pull in a few catches.

Today means we have to start facing the uncertainty of bye weeks, which stands in stark contrast to last week, when the fantasy world was finally beginning to look standardized.

Houston’s Arian Foster was in the top-overall-player discussion before the season, but injury made him a disappointment when, after three games, he had sat for two and had only 10 carries for 33 yards sandwiched in between. Against Pittsburgh, though, he busted out for 155 yards on 30 carries.

Now, apparently fully healthy, he will face an Oakland defense today that is ranked 29th in the league against the run, allowing 136 yards per game. His owners can finally relax and play Foster without worry.

Chris Johnson’s owners were also angst-ridden until last week. The Titans’ back had given them hope when he decided not to carry his contract holdout into the season, but then only rewarded them with 98 yards on 46 carries in three September games.

Then, last week against Cleveland, he more than doubled his yardage, gaining 101 on only 23 carries. Now he faces the same Pittsburgh team that let Foster run wild. The usually stalwart Steelers running defense is giving up almost 120 yards per game on the ground.

So CJ2K should be A-OK this week.

That’s right, I’m ending on a hacky letter joke. This is what happens when I am not allowed to hang with all my rowdy friends.

Since Matt Schaub became the starting QB for Houston in 2007, Andre Johnson has missed 10 games due to injury. He will add to that total today.

That moves other receivers up the depth chart, making Jacoby Jones a key free-agent pickup for fantasy owners. One shouldn’t overlook Kevin Walter, though, if you need a player for a plug-in spot as bye weeks begin. He has posted some solid numbers in the games Johnson has missed.